This week The Journey is very excited to welcome Gary Curneen on the show! Gary is the current Head Women's Soccer Coach at Cal State University - Bakersfield, and was previously the Assistant Coach at the University of Cincinnati and Wingate University. Gary holds a UEFA A License and a Premier Diploma.Our discussion today revolves around youth and professional development as we discuss Gary's experience at the collegiate level and also tackle various ideas that are present within youth development. It is a must listen!Gary can be found on Twitter@GaryCurneen and his website at: http://garycurneen.com/Gary is also the author of two excellent books, "The Modern Soccer Coach," and "The Modern Soccer Coach - Position Specific Training." These can be found on amazon by clicking the title of each book. Make sure you follow Gary and give his books a read, and enjoy our discussion below!

This week The Journey is very excited to welcome Tony DiCicco on the show! Tony is a World Cup winning coach with the United States Women's National Team both on the Senior and Youth Sides. He is also an Olympic Gold Medal Winning Coach, and he is the only coach in world football to hold the distinction of winning all three competitions!

With the United States Women's National Team, Tony won the Olympic Gold Medal in 1996, the World Cup in 1999, as well as the U-20's Women's World Cup in 2008! He is the current Founder and Technical Director of SoccerPlus Camps as well as the Director of the NSCAA Goalkeeping Academy. We wouldn't be able to do justice to all of Tony's great accomplishments within the game, however, so it's best you listen to this excellent discussion on all things development, team-building, coaching education and more!Tony can be found on Twitter @TonySocc . Make sure you also check out his excellent SoccerPlus Camps located at: http://www.soccerplus.org/ as well as the NSCAA Coaching Course website where you can find all the GK courses that are being offered among the other excellent resources: http://www.nscaa.com/education/coaching-courses

This week The Journey is very excited to welcome Jonny Henderson on the show! Jonny is the current Academy Manager and Head of Coaching at Bristol Rovers Football Club. He holds a UEFA A License as well as an MSc in Coaching Science. I had the pleasure of meeting Jonny when I was in England from January through February in 2015 as I spent close to a week observing Bristol Rovers’ Academy. For a club in the Conference at the time, I was blown away by the professionalism and fantastic environment that had been fostered in the organization which in turn helped produce first-team professionals at all levels of the game at a very promising rate. The true test of an academy is the players that graduate into the first team and have success with the professional side, and the academy has graduated some fantastic players, especially in recent times, who were directly involved with Rovers recent promotion back into the Football League! Our discussion revolves around youth development both at the professional and amateur levels and Jonny brings a fascinating insight into developing high quality players. Jonny can be found on Twitter @JonnyHenderson and he is a wealth of knowledge!

This week The Coaching Journey is excited to welcome Gerard Jones on the podcast! Gerard is currently coaching as a Professional Development Phase Coach with Bradford City U21’s as well as being a Grassroots Football Ambassador with Adidas. Gerard is the Director of Gerard Jones Enterprises which sees him offer various training opportunities as well as assisting various teams as a consultant. For more information, be sure to visit Gerard’s great website at http://www.gerardschooloffootball.com/home.html Gerard can be found on twitter @Gerard_Jones Gerard also has a new book out entitled “Let’s Talk Soccer: Using Game-calls to Develop Communication and Decision-making in Football. Many have praised the book and Gerard goes into some detail on the podcast as well, giving a taste of what the book has to offer! You can find out more info and also buy the book here: http://www.bennionkearny.com/Lets-Talk-Soccer-Game-Calls-in-Football-Gerard-Jones-Book.htm

This week The Coaching Journey is excited to welcome Danny Karbassiyoon on the podcast! Danny is a former professional player most notably with Arsenal Football Club, Burnley, and Ipswich Town. He is a current scout for Arsenal Football Club and has been instrumental in discovering current Arsenal players Gedion Zelalem and Joel Campbell. Danny brings to the discussion an excellent story of his own background as well as a wealth of insight into modern day scouting and youth development both in North America, where he lives and scouts for Arsenal, as well as worldwide! You can find Danny on twitter @dkarbassiyoon . Danny is also the founder of Fury90, an exciting new fantasy football venture! Make sure to check it out at http://fury90.com/ and on twitter @Fury90_

This week The Coaching Journey is excited to welcome Ian Barker on the podcast. Ian is best known for his current role as the Director of Coaching Education with the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA). Previously, Ian has coached at the collegiate level, most notably winning the NCAA National Championship with the University of Wisconsin. He has experience as the Director of Coaching and Player Development with Minnesota Youth Soccer Association as well as working with US Region II Olympic Development Program, leading teams to Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, England, Germany, Italy, Scotland and Switzerland. Ian’s credentials are extremely impressive, but perhaps more impressive is the thousands of coaches he and the NSCAA have helped educate. He is an excellent educator and many coaches have a story of their own personal interaction with him. Today’s chat is a fascinating discussion on youth development as well as coach education from one of the country’s best! Make sure to check out the NSCAA website http://www.nscaa.com/ to discover all the benefits that they offer! Ian can be found on twitter @BarkerNSCAA

This week, we’re very excited to welcome Kieran Smith on the podcast. Kieran is a former player, current academy coach in Spain with AD Alcorcon. His experience sees him having worked in professional setups in Scotland, England, and Spain, as well as the United States briefly. He has a UEFA A License and is in the process of completing his UEFA Pro License. Kieran is also well known for his excellent tactical analysis pieces as well as his very well received work on rondos. His 10 match tactical analysis piece on Atletico Madrid can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/Kieran85uk/atletico-madrid-10-match-tactical-analysis . Perhaps his most famous work, “Rondos- How to use Spain’s secret weapon” can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/Kieran85uk/rondos-how-to-use-spains-secret-weapon . Listen to our insightful discussion as we discuss youth development abroad and its comparisons here! Kieran can be found on twitter @KieranSmith1

This week we begin our new weekly feature, “The Journey,” in which we have a one-on-one chat with a professional involved with the game. Our inaugural episode of The Journey sees us very excited to welcome John O’Sullivan! John is the founder of the Changing the Game Project, an esteemed author, a former player, and coach from grassroots to professional levels in the United States. His calling has seen him found Changing the Game Project whose mission is to “ensure that we return youth sports to our children, and put the ‘play’ back in ‘play ball.’” Listen to his insightful conversation as we cover various topics regarding youth development and youth sports! John can be found on Twitter at @CoachJohnnyO and be sure to visit his fantastic website: http://changingthegameproject.com/ as well as his various books on offer: http://changingthegameproject.com/resource-center/

Last week I had the pleasure of joining Jon Townsend (@Jon_townsend3) and James Hart (@JimAtYearZero) on the YearZeroSoccer Podcast. We had a good discussion on topics such as coaching education, youth development and the issue of pay to play, and various other topics that have an impact on players, parents, coaches, and fans alike. Be sure to check out the YearZeroSoccer website at https://www.yearzerosoccer.org/. It’s a great organization with people focused solely on improving the game in this country, which is always great to see. They have recently joined with @TheseFootyTimes (http://www.thesefootballtimes.net/) in an effort to continue to push forward with their effort of improving the soccer landscape within the U.S. It’s certainly an exciting time for both organizations! Check out the podcast below!@pcammarata Follow us on Facebook – The Coaching Journey